What is polonium and how do I know if I've been poisoned?

The Palestinians called on Wednesday for an international probe into veteran leader Yasser Arafat’s death after reports he may have been poisoned, raising the possibility of an exhumation.

The news came a day after Al-Jazeera broadcast the results of a nine-month investigation it commissioned on Arafat’s 2004 death that found the Palestinian leader could have been poisoned with polonium — the radioactive substance that became widely know after it was used in the suspected poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

With this in mind, we take a look at the radioactive and potentially deadly material:

• Polonium is a radioactive element that occurs naturally in very low concentrations in the earth’s crust. It was the first element discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898.

• Due to its scarcity, the most common isotope, polonium-210, is usually produced artificially in a nuclear reactor.

• Symptoms of polonium poisoning include vomiting, hair loss and diarrhea — all of which is in line with other types of radiation poisoning.

• Due to its scarcity, the most common isotope, polonium-210, is usually produced artificially in a nuclear reactor.

• Polonium has been used as a trigger for nuclear weapons, and as a power source for satellites and other spacecraft.

• A 2007 study by radiation experts from Britain’s Health Protection Agency concluded that once Polonium-210 is deposited in the bloodstream, its potent effects are nearly impossible to stop. A poisoning victim would experience multiple organ failure as alpha radiation particles bombard the liver, kidneys and bone marrow from within.

• John Croft, a retired British radiation expert who worked for the British agency during the Litvinenko crisis, said a Polonium-210 sample large enough to kill would likely have to come from a government with either civilian or military nuclear capabilities. “You would need to have access to very sophisticated facilities,” he said.